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1 FOOT = 3.048 DECIMETERS - 1 YARD = 0.9144 METER
MAVES BROTHERS TOOL MFG COMPANY on the level means quality JOHNSON CITY, TENNESSEE MADE IN U.S.A.
0.326 FOOT
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Thursday inside
Smokin' Jayplay Jayplay takes a look at
Lawrence proposed smoking ban. Who likes it, who doesn't
and how it could change your nights.
Plus: Find out why you can't pay attention in a distracting story on ADD by Jayplay
alumna Meghan
Bainum. JAYPLAY
Smoking ban decision
A task force considering a smoking ban in the city discussed different kinds of partial bans yesterday. A recommendation will be made in April. PAGE 3A
Stay or pro?
Wayne Simien made it clear on Senior Night that he planned to stay at Kansas for his senior season. Columnist Ryan Greene talks about the lure of the NBA and discusses the factors that will weigh on Simien's final decision. PAGE 1B
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KANSAN
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
April 1,2004
IN ITS 100TH YEAR AS THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Vol.114 Issue No.121
Credit Catastrophe
Interest rates and late fees damage future credit
Photo Illustration by Megan True/ Kansar
Chad Shaughnessy knew his credit card days were over when collection agencies started calling him.
Cutting up credit cards is what many students wish they would have done before they got into debt. If credit card debt wasn't enough of a problem, the bad credit that often accompanies it can create future problems for students.
Photo Illustration by Megan True Kansan
Shaughnessy, who was a freshman at the time, owed more than $5,000. He said that the callers accused him of lying when he couldn't pay the balances in full, wondering where his money was going instead.
"They start asking 'So, can you write us a check?' Shaughnessy said. "They just kind of forget about everything else in your life."
Before long, the calls turned from accusations to threats of lawsuits, he said.
"They're pretty ruthless. They're going to try to push your buttons to get your money out of you," Shaughnessy said.
Shaughnessy needed one and a half years to climb his way out of debt. It took him quitting school for a semester and working two jobs to have enough time and money to pay off the debt. Even after he got out of debt, he could not get a car loan without a co-signer, nor could he get a cell phone in his own name because of the resulting bad credit. His story is a warning about how easy college students can fall into debt,
SEE CREDIT ON PAGE 6A
Cameras to watch for crime
By Ron Knox
rknox@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
After what KU Public Safety Office officials described as "several incidents" of criminal activity in campus parking lots, officers will soon be able to keep a better eye on the problem. Several eyes.
In an effort to deter crimes such as stalking and threatening behavior, public safety officials will consider bids from 13 companies to install cameras in parking lots from the residence halls on Daisy Hill to GSP-Corbin Hall.
"That is our utmost concern," said Chief Ralph Oliver with the Public Safety Office. "We want people to feel safe."
The project, tentatively scheduled for
completion this summer, will allow the safety office to monitor activities in parking lots and along walkways.
Trained students working part-time will watch for suspicious activities from a monitoring room in Carruth-O'Leary Hall, Oliver said.
But some students and professors worry that the cameras won't create the safe environment public safety officials envision.
"I don't think new cameras would deter anything from happening," said Kelly Waldron, Aspen, Colo., sophomore. "They would just know it happens more often."
These cameras are not monitored, Oliver said. When the new camera system is installed, the Safety Office will be able to monitor existing cameras as well.
Cameras are already used on campus, including by the Parking Department and the Kansas Union. The first cameras were installed in 2002.
The program's budget will only allow part-time monitoring of the cameras, probably between 5 p.m. and 5 a.m.The eventual goal is to monitor cameras 24 hours a day, said Oliver.
If cameras are not monitored all the time, they will not do their intended job, said William Staples, sociology professor and author of Everyday Surveillance: Vigilance and Visibility in Postmodern Life.
"If they are truly security cameras, they must provide a real security." Staples said.
SEE SURVEILLANCE ON PAGE 8A
KUnited broke no regulations
By Andy Marso
amarso@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The first complaint alleged that
The Elections Commission Hearing Board found KUnited not guilty in two separate complaints of campaign violations last night.
KUnited representatives went door-to-door handing out campaign materials in Templin Hall on March 12. The complaint was filed by Association of University
residence Halls senator Kristan Seibel,
Seibel, Templin desk assistant, filed
the complaint after reading an entry in
the Templin desk log stating that
KUnited representatives entered the
hall with campaign materials and went
upstairs without checking in. Seibel is
running for a junior/senior College of
Liberal Arts and Sciences seat with
Delta Force this year.
Jana Szatkowski, the Senate communications director, was one of the KUUnited representatives named. She said she and her companions entered Templin, but didn't go door-to-door soliciting or distributing materials.
Szatkowski said they were escorted by Templin residents and only went to the rooms of people those residents knew.
She added that she met with Ken Stoner, director of Student Housing, and went over the rules for campaigning in the residence halls.
Jeremy Antley, the complaint adjudicator for the board, investigated. He said there was no violation if the KUnited representatives were invited into rooms by a roommate or a friend.
The coalition might be exploiting a hole in soliciting rules. Antley said.
"I do see the potential for large abuse in this area," Antley said. "You could make a very strong case that this is violating the spirit as opposed to the letter of the law."
The three-person board unanimously decided that no violation occurred. Dallas Rakesraw, the board's chairman, ordered that both coalitions turn in samples of their campaign materials to the Elections Commission.
The second complaint was filed by Kyle Stearns, a resident assistant at Oliver Hall. Stearns is running for a junior/senior CLAS seat with Delta Force this year.
Stearns said he found a KUnited poster taped to the wall. Residents are allowed to put coalition posters on their doors, but not on walls.
Antley said that the poster was removed and that the resident who put it up was not a KUnited candidate and was unaware of the rule.
The board unanimously ruled that KUnited was not in violation.
Edited by Collin LaJoie
.
This house at 1232 Ohio St., will be home to 16 members of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity next year. The fraternity is in the process of rebuilding after it sold its house at 1911 Stewart Ave. in 2000. Chapter members will soon begin focusing on recruitment in an attempt to have 50 to 60 members next year.
Annie Barneth/ Kansai
Fraternity rebuilding includes new house
By Aziza Tafreshi
atafreshi@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Members of the University of Kansas chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity will have a new place to call home next fall.
Sixteen of the chapter's 29 members will move into a nine-bedroom house at 1232 Ohio St. in August, said Joseph Lanz. president of Tau Kappa Epsilon.
Lantz, Tulsa Okla., senior, said the fraternity's membership numbers decreased after Tau Kappa Epsilon sold its house at 1911 Stewart Ave. in 2000, but he thought having a fully-functioning chapter house would help with the fraternity's recruitment process.
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"Anytime you have a central location that everybody is a part of, it draws guys in, and it keeps them involved," Lantz said.
Tyler McMillan, a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon, said he joined the fraternity last fall on a recommendation from a friend who was an existing member, but a house could be an important recruitment tool for any sorority or fraternity.
"The first thing I've always been asked when I say I'm in a fraternity is where is your house at?" said McMillan, Garden City freshman. "It's great that now I can say we're getting one."
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SEE FRATERNITY ON PAGE 8A